The disclosure relates to systems and tooling for positioning components during additive manufacturing and, more specifically, positioning pre-existing components for addition of an additive component.
The pace of change and improvement in the realms of power generation, aviation, and other fields has accompanied extensive research for manufacturing components used in these fields. Conventional manufacture of metallic components generally includes milling or cutting away regions from a slab of metal before treating and modifying the cut metal to yield a part, which may have been simulated using computer models and computer aided design. Manufactured components which may be formed from metal include airfoil components for installation in a turbomachine such as an aircraft engine or power generation system, as well as mechanical components for other manufacturing, transportation, and structural systems.
The development of additive manufacturing, also known in the art as “3D printing,” can reduce manufacturing costs by allowing such components to be formed more quickly, with unit-to-unit variations as appropriate. Among other advantages, additive manufacture can directly apply computer-generated models to a manufacturing process while relying on less expensive equipment and/or raw materials.
Additive manufacturing can allow a component to be formed from a reserve of fine metal powder positioned on a build plate, which is processed by an electron beam or laser (using fusing heat treatments such as sintering or melting) to form a component or sub-component. Additive manufacturing equipment can also form components by using three-dimensional models generated with software included within and/or external to the manufacturing equipment. Some devices fabricated via additive manufacture can be formed initially as several distinct components at respective processing stages before being assembled in a subsequent process.
Additive manufacturing opens opportunities for repair of existing components and/or creation of hybrid components where an additive component (or sub-component) is built on one or more surfaces of a pre-existing component without requiring separate attachment. For example, cast components may be used as a base component and additive features may be built on a cast and prepared build surface of the base component positioned in an additive manufacturing tool or modality. Base plates are generally designed for building new components and may not be compatible with positioning pre-existing components.